Harm Reduction for Long-Term Eating Disorders: Peer Support, Healing, & Hope With Johanna Scoglio, M.Ed., M.B.A.

What happens when traditional recovery messaging does not fit someone’s lived reality? For many people living with long-term eating disorders, the expectation of full recovery can feel overwhelming, unrealistic, or even invalidating. In these situations, harm reduction for eating disorders offers another path forward, one that centers dignity, autonomy, safety, and compassion.

In this episode of the Dr. Marianne-Land Podcast, Dr. Marianne speaks with Johanna Scoglio, M.Ed., M.B.A., founder of Dragonfly’s Dream, a nonprofit rooted in lived experience and dedicated to supporting people with long-term eating disorders through harm reduction, peer support, and mind-body healing.

Johanna brings both professional expertise and personal insight to this conversation. Together, she and Dr. Marianne explore how harm reduction approaches can support individuals who have been living with eating disorders for many years and may feel overlooked by traditional treatment models. This episode offers a thoughtful and compassionate discussion about chronic eating disorders, community care, and new ways of thinking about healing.

Understanding Harm Reduction for Long-Term Eating Disorders

Harm reduction is an approach that focuses on reducing suffering and increasing safety, rather than insisting on a single definition of recovery. In the context of long-term eating disorders or chronic eating disorders, harm reduction acknowledges that healing is complex and that people deserve support even if their symptoms do not disappear entirely.

Johanna explains that harm reduction is not about giving up on healing. Instead, it is about meeting people where they are and supporting meaningful improvements in quality of life. For many individuals living with persistent eating disorders, this may mean reducing medical risk, building sustainable coping strategies, improving emotional well-being, and creating environments where eating and nourishment feel safer.

Rather than framing recovery as all-or-nothing, harm reduction allows space for nuance, flexibility, and compassion.

The Role of Peer Support in Eating Disorder Healing

A key focus of Johanna’s work is peer support for eating disorders. Many people living with long-term eating disorders report feeling isolated or misunderstood, especially when their experiences fall outside standard recovery narratives. Peer support can create powerful spaces where individuals feel seen, understood, and less alone.

Johanna shares how peer-led communities offer validation and connection. When people speak openly with others who have lived through similar experiences, shame often begins to soften. Peer support can also provide practical strategies, encouragement, and hope that healing is still possible, even when the journey looks different than expected.

For many individuals, peer support becomes a vital complement to therapy, medical care, or other forms of treatment. It reminds people that they are not alone and that their experiences matter.

Expanding the Conversation About Eating Disorder Recovery

This episode also explores how the eating disorder field can broaden its understanding of recovery. Traditional treatment models often emphasize full symptom elimination as the only successful outcome. While full recovery is possible for many people, others may experience a more complicated path.

Johanna and Dr. Marianne discuss how harm reduction frameworks allow clinicians, families, and communities to support individuals without judgment. Instead of labeling someone as failing recovery, harm reduction acknowledges the realities of persistent eating disorders and prioritizes safety, dignity, and compassionate care.

By shifting the focus toward quality of life, connection, and incremental change, harm reduction can help people build more sustainable relationships with food, their bodies, and their communities.

About Johanna Scoglio

Johanna Scoglio, M.Ed., M.B.A., is the founder of Dragonfly’s Dream, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting individuals living with long-term eating disorders. Her work centers on harm reduction, peer support, and mind-body healing, with the goal of creating spaces where people can access compassionate and realistic support.

Through advocacy, education, and community building, Johanna is helping expand the conversation around chronic eating disorders, recovery pathways, and inclusive care.

Johanna recently published a book:

When the Water Still Holds Me: Letters Through the Tides of a Long-Term Eating Disorder

You can learn more about it and purchase it HERE.

Here is her website: https://shimmeringseaglass.com/

Related Episodes

Understanding Harm Reduction: Why "Full Recovery" May Not Be the Goal for Lifelong Eating Disorders on Apple and Spotify.

Why Eating Still Breaks Down for Neurodivergent People With Long-Term Eating Disorders on Apple and Spotify.

Orthorexia, Quasi-Recovery, & Lifelong Eating Disorder Struggles with Dr. Lara Zibarras @drlarazib on Apple & Spotify.

Navigating a Long-Term Eating Disorder on Apple & Spotify.

Listen to the Episode

If you or someone you care about is navigating a long-term eating disorder, this episode offers an important reminder that healing does not have to follow a single path. Harm reduction, peer support, and compassionate care can create meaningful change and help people build lives that feel more supported and hopeful.

Work With Dr. Marianne

If you are looking for support with eating disorders such as ARFID, binge eating disorder, anorexia, or bulimia, Dr. Marianne Miller offers compassionate, neurodivergent-affirming care that recognizes how sensory needs, trauma, and complex life experiences can shape relationships with food. Dr. Marianne is a licensed eating disorder therapist who provides therapy for clients in California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., as well as coaching for people around the world. She specializes in working with adults navigating ARFID, binge eating disorder, and long-term eating disorders. To learn more about therapy, coaching, or Dr. Marianne’s self-paced ARFID and selective eating course, visit drmariannemiller.com.